1938 - THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1938, or what passes for entertainment in 1938

 Even at 90 minutes this film was a chore to sit through.  Paramount had done a few of these "Big Broadcast" films where they mixed radio personalities with their contract players.  They usually had to stick some kind of a plot in these films, in this case it's a race between two ocean liners, The S.S. Colossal and the S.S. Gigantic.

W. C. Fields gets top billing in the cast, this was Fields last picture for Paramount.  Apparently Fields was somewhat of a challenge to work with on this film.  There are a number of what I would call strange acts in this film.  Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra.  Metropolitan Opera Singer Kristen Flagstad belting out Brunnhilde’s Battle Cry.  The grating Martha Raye performing "Mama, That Moon is Here Again." Probably the best song is "Thanks for the Memory" sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross.  In fact this was Bob Hope's first appearance on film I believe,  he has that easy going charm and humor that carried him through a long career.

 

The finale of this film features a supposedly big production number called “The Waltz Lives On," which isn't much of a big production number.  Really in the 1930's only Warner Brother's studios and Busby Berkley could pull something like this off.  The number comes off as second rate, in fact the whole movie is sort of second rate.

 

The film was written by a whole lot of writers, never a good sign,  Frederick Hazlitt Brennan, Russel Crouse, Walter DeLeon, Ken Englund, Howard Lindsay and Francis Martin.  

The running time is 91 minutes.